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Top scholars of the Salaf: The Persian students of ‘Abdullah Ibn ‘Abbas (RA)

A Saudi school named after a Persian student of a companion of the final Messenger of God (peace be upon him).

Our master Abdallah Ibn ‘Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him and his uncle our master Al-‘Abbas) had many famous students, amongst them many non-Arabs such as THE chief of the Salaf, Sa’id Ibn Jubayr (Habashi/Ethiopian), ‘Ikramah (Berber, North African) and ‘Ataa Ibn Abi Rabah(Nubian/Sudani) and many others.

Another two whose names are not just familiar to every student of knowledge but also to the laymen are Mujahid and Tawus who are both of Persian descent. Yet another two gems that Sunni (pre-Safavid) and Islamic Persia produced:

1. Mujahid:

His full name was Mujahid ibn Jabr (Arabic: مُجَاهِدْ بِنْ جَبْر) (645-722 CE), his kunya was Abal-Hajjaj, he was a Tabi‘i and one of the major early Islamic scholars. He was a PCLIENT (Mawlaa) of the Makhzoumi Qurashi tribe and hence he is sometimes called Al-Makhzoumi Al-Qurashi (i.e. Al-Qurashi by allegiance not Nassab/lineage. Very common amongst MANY ethnic Persian scholars from amongst the Salaf). The scholars usually describe him as:

… SHAYKH Al-Qurraa’ (Shaykh/master of the Qur’an reciters) and Mufassirs, Imam, Thiqah, ‘Alim, someone who narrated many hadith, excelled in the recitation of the Qur’an and Hadith …

Can you imagine a sane person saying ANY of this about the laughing stocks of the Rafidah who (like Mujahid) are (mostly) of Persian descent yet are nothing but losers and failures when it comes to the recitation of the Qur’an or mastering the Arabic language? Mujahid the Persian himself said:

“It is NOT permissible for anyone who believes in Allah and the Day of Judgement to speak about the book of Allah without being a SCHOLAR in the language of the Arabs.”

He was one of the leading Qur’an commentators of the generation after that of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, and his Companions. He is the first to compile a written exegesis of the Qur’an i.e. the first compiled and written down Tafsir was written by an ethnic Persian. It is related by Ibn Sa’d in the Tabaqat and elsewhere that he went over the explanation of the Qur’an together with Ibn ‘Abbas thirty times.

There are obviously many quotes from the highest authorities and scholars of this Ummah in regards to the uprightness of this great man, here is one:

قال عنه الذهبي في السير: أجمعت الأمة على إمامة مجاهد والاحتجاج به.

Imam Al-Dhahabi (Al-Turkistani) said in his Al-Siyar:

The UMMAH [Rafidah are of course excluded] has unanimously agreeed on the leadership (in knowledge) of Mujahid and to refer back to him.

2. Tawus Ibn Kaysan

Ibn Hajar related that Tāwus was a Persian who inhabited an area called al-Jund and that he was the master of Hamadan in Iran. Ibn Hayyān said about him: “He was among the worshipers of the people of the Yemen and the masters of the leading members of the next generation.” He performed the hajj forty times and narrated some of the whispered prayers of Imām Zayn al-‘Ābidin. Ibn Kaysan was also a student of Abdullah ibn Abbas.
Hadith from him are recorded by Muhammad al-Bukhari (85 traditions), Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj (78 traditions), al-Tirmidhi, al-Nasa’i, Abu Dawood, Ibn Majah, Ahmad ibn Hanbal.